The 60's radicals have raised a generation on ritalin and politically correct bed time stories. They told kids don't run, don't walk, stay off the grass. Recycle, don't question, be safe, buckle up, drugs are wrong (except ritalin), parents are always right, and the world is their oyster so why work for anything? They raised kids to believe there were no such thing as heroes, and we ended up with a generation that doesn't believe heroic actions exist. everyone's got an angle, there's always an ulterior motive so take what you can and screw the rest.

Is it any wonder why kids don't really give a damn? Unless they suddenly start getting drafted in large numbers, they won't rise up and start protesting. And even then, it won't be about the principal, it'll be a desire to not get their asses shot off in some desert halfway across the world.

GET OFFA MAH LAWN.

This'll be interesting when it hits the front page.

As always, I agree with Weaver95.

What's it say about Fark that I read "soap" and the first thing that comes to mind is "prison"?

For that matter, what does it say about me?

/got nuthin

Weaver95: They raised kids to believe there were no such thing as heroes, and we ended up with a generation that doesn't believe heroic actions exist.

You're not gonna fall for the banana in the tailpipe?

Weaver95: Is it any wonder why kids don't really give a damn? Unless they suddenly start getting drafted in large numbers, they won't rise up and start protesting. And even then, it won't be about the principal principle, it'll be a desire to not get their asses shot off in some desert halfway across the world.

/sorry.

Rant_Casey's_Rabies_Buffet: Weaver95: Is it any wonder why kids don't really give a damn? Unless they suddenly start getting drafted in large numbers, they won't rise up and start protesting. And even then, it won't be about the principal principle, it'll be a desire to not get their asses shot off in some desert halfway across the world.

/sorry.

LOL! It is about the principal who didn't teach him to spell.

Weaver95
The 60's radicals have raised

Fail. 60's radicals were a vocal but very small minority of the population.

RanDomino: Weaver95
The 60's radicals have raised

Fail. 60's radicals were a vocal but very small minority of the population.

That's true, otherwise how could Nixon have won twice by a landslide?

Stay off the drugs kids otherwise you will end up looking like me.

RanDomino: Weaver95
The 60's radicals have raised

Fail. 60's radicals were a vocal but very small minority of the population.

That aside, I think Weaver 95 is spot on.

Wow, there is little more pathetic than an aging radical who realizes that he is going to die and no one gives a damn about the vitriolic, cobble throwing rage that was the pillar of his being.

Irrelevance is a slap that will sting for the rest of his life.

Snoats: That aside, I think Weaver 95 is spot on.

Meh. Nice generalization about the baby-boomers, though. They weren't radicals, you know. They understandably rebelled against the Leave it to Beaver Culture, yes, radicals, no. The radicals went to jail, went in hiding, or cleverly managed to assimilate themselves into society like Jerry Rubin.

Anyway, bring the draft back and you'll get some pissed off people again. Or another 4 years of the current policy.

Agreed. Weaver95: They raised kids to believe there were no such thing as heroes, and we ended up with a generation that doesn't believe heroic actions exist.

I dunno. Gen X seems to revere the Greatest Generation - look at all the WWII fps action-shooter games. And we shared a common enemy - those whiny, soul sucking hippie cretins that were their crotchfruit.

We never bothered saving the world because the hippie generation always said that that's what they were going to do once they were in charge. Turns out they were full of shiat, and now our generation and our kids generation are going to spend the next hundred years cleaning up their mess.

now that I've R'dTFA...

Weaver, have an extra helping of go fark yourself. Your inane rant against figments of your imagination only help insult and denigrate real struggles going on today. This nightmare-paradise is about to burn, and while people like you are consumed trying to stamp out infernos, we will drive the flames and feeding them be fed. Your way of life, founded on oppression, fear, and intimidation, is doomed, and the world will not miss it!

Dave The Slushy: We never bothered saving the world because the hippie generation always said that that's what they were going to do once they were in charge. Turns out they were full of shiat, and now our generation and our kids generation are going to spend the next hundred years cleaning up their mess.

I hope that's just a bunch of cynical bullsh*t on your part. The "mess" was already there. It was called the Military Industrial Complex, and it's not to the credit of the baby boomers. They weren't old enough.

No, the worst that can be pegged on that generation is they wasted a lot of money. And if you happened to look at the events of the past 40 or so years, plenty of people were out there "saving the world" behind the scenes. They got Nixon to sign into law the EPA, and now their efforts are getting this government off its ass to recognize the dangers of emissions from automobiles and industry. Like I said, you sound like a cynic, just wondering.

Dave The Slushy
I dunno. Gen X seems to revere the Greatest Generation - look at all the WWII fps action-shooter games. And we shared a common enemy - those whiny, soul sucking hippie cretins that were their crotchfruit.

We never bothered saving the world because the hippie generation always said that that's what they were going to do once they were in charge. Turns out they were full of shiat, and now our generation and our kids generation are going to spend the next hundred years cleaning up their mess.

I think that has more to do with the fact that the boomers all seem like dishonest, dishonorable bastards, and their parents were willing to put their lives on the line for something bigger than they were. All this talk about 'revolutionary zeal' is exactly that, talk. They never actually did anything except protest, and then talk about how right on they are. The Greatest generation lived on rations, in destitution and never complained. Their children aren't happy unless the government is spending billions more than they have on things the boomers want, and screwing later generations while doing it.

Weaver95: The 60's radicals have raised a generation on ritalin and politically correct bed time stories. They told kids don't run, don't walk, stay off the grass. Recycle, don't question, be safe, buckle up, drugs are wrong (except ritalin), parents are always right, and the world is their oyster so why work for anything? They raised kids to believe there were no such thing as heroes, and we ended up with a generation that doesn't believe heroic actions exist. everyone's got an angle, there's always an ulterior motive so take what you can and screw the rest.

I think that the PC, precious-little-snowflake group and the cynics are two separate camps. For "don't question, be safe" to work, there has to be some respect for authority and order, which is exactly what cynics don't have. Both might be products of the 60's, but not the same people.

Personally, I think that the "it used to be better" worship like you're doing has probably always taken place by a certain percentage of the population, but that it's almost never true.

How about "China doesn't send millions of dollars to press shills to publish inflammatory articles like the Soviet Union did"?

That and the draft answers about all of it.

Well, that and what mweaver said. ;-).

RanDomino: now that I've R'dTFA...

Weaver, have an extra helping of go fark yourself. Your inane rant against figments of your imagination only help insult and denigrate real struggles going on today. This nightmare-paradise is about to burn, and while people like you are consumed trying to stamp out infernos, we will drive the flames and feeding them be fed. Your way of life, founded on oppression, fear, and intimidation, is doomed, and the world will not miss it!

Like...so right on ...like, man!

Number41: Weaver95: The 60's radicals have raised a generation on ritalin and politically correct bed time stories. They told kids don't run, don't walk, stay off the grass. Recycle, don't question, be safe, buckle up, drugs are wrong (except ritalin), parents are always right, and the world is their oyster so why work for anything? They raised kids to believe there were no such thing as heroes, and we ended up with a generation that doesn't believe heroic actions exist. everyone's got an angle, there's always an ulterior motive so take what you can and screw the rest.

I think that the PC, precious-little-snowflake group and the cynics are two separate camps. For "don't question, be safe" to work, there has to be some respect for authority and order, which is exactly what cynics don't have. Both might be products of the 60's, but not the same people.

Personally, I think that the "it used to be better" worship like you're doing has probably always taken place by a certain percentage of the population, but that it's almost never true.

Indeed not.

60s radicals had the advantage that they actually cared about politics. Nowadays "I hate Hillary" passes for a politcal opinion.

I love the term "sheeple". It really describes people who think they will change the world by posting photoshops of politicians.

Just like Rumsfeld and Cheney thought they could win the war in Iraq by calling the French cowards. They lost anyway.

As long as you ignore the real issues at hand, you will be powerless.

ilambiquated: 60s radicals had the advantage that they actually cared about politics. Nowadays "I hate Hillary" passes for a politcal opinion.

I love the term "sheeple". It really describes people who think they will change the world by posting photoshops of politicians.

Just like Rumsfeld and Cheney thought they could win the war in Iraq by calling the French cowards. They lost anyway.

As long as you ignore the real issues at hand, you will be powerless.

I would like to type that I'm speechless, but here I am....

There does seem to be an inordinate amount of apathy about the war in Iraq, if street protests or, for that matter, the result of the 2004 election, are anything to go by. But I don't see any 60's radicals (who'd now be in their 60s) doing it, either. Internet protest/activism is the zeitgeist.

Candy Colored Clown
Like...so right on ...like, man!

And this is exactly why. There are millions of people trying to selflessly work on all these causes, and what do we get? Mockery. Rude dismissal.



ilambiquated
60s radicals had the advantage that they actually cared about politics. Nowadays "I hate Hillary" passes for a politcal opinion.
...
As long as you ignore the real issues at hand, you will be powerless.

It's because there's no analysis. You hate Hillary? Why, exactly? Can you articulate some specific reasons? For most people, the answer is that no, they can't. This is true for every aspect of middle-class life (except sports, where people can go into great detail on the merits of particular teams or players).

ilambiquated: 60s radicals had the advantage that they actually cared about politics. Nowadays "I hate Hillary" passes for a politcal opinion.

I love the term "sheeple". It really describes people who think they will change the world by posting photoshops of politicians.

Just like Rumsfeld and Cheney thought they could win the war in Iraq by calling the French cowards. They lost anyway.

As long as you ignore the real issues at hand, you will be powerless.

They may have cared about politics, but the radical approach that sought to tear down a way of life without offering an alternative (other than the "come the revolution, we'll all be eating ...") was nowhere near as effective in changing public opinion and policy as the measured but steady pressure exerted by the Bobby Kennedy type reformers.

Their pragmatic, positive agenda engaged far more people than did the spittle flecked rage of the radicals. People like Tariq Ali like to take the credit for any and all the positive change, however.

I agree with you regarding the modern "sheeple" sobriquet. It's depressing, but true.

Weaver95: The 60's radicals have raised a generation on ritalin and politically correct bed time stories. They told kids don't run, don't walk, stay off the grass. Recycle, don't question, be safe, buckle up, drugs are wrong (except ritalin), parents are always right, and the world is their oyster so why work for anything? They raised kids to believe there were no such thing as heroes, and we ended up with a generation that doesn't believe heroic actions exist. everyone's got an angle, there's always an ulterior motive so take what you can and screw the rest.

As much as I love agreeing with you, Weaver, you're wrong, here. The 90's (new window)is the generation with Ritalin-inducing parents. Conversely, the drugs that you say that they decried instead increase an intense surge in popularity in the 60's, and the 70's.

Recycling was a hit in the 70's, not the sixties. Similarly, the Watergate scandal, a large push to belief in ulterior motives, broke in the 70's.

The children of those radicals are guilty of everything you say that their parents are - that is to say, those born in the 60's.

Not those being ardent protestors and rights-advocates in the 60's. Not many people are precocious enough to organize and protest at such a tender age.

RanDomino: Candy Colored Clown
Like...so right on ...like, man!

And this is exactly why. There are millions of people trying to selflessly work on all these causes, and what do we get? Mockery. Rude dismissal.

You're so right on, man. We should like do shiat...stuff.

The new recruits have it easy, whined one Roman Legionnaire to another.

Hah, Stealthdozer! This article's complaint is as old as the hills.

starsrift: no apostrophe is needed when you pluralize years, as in decades 60s, 70s, etc. Pet peeve. I'm going to organize a protest about it tomorrow.

Can we find the 60's Construction Workers to beat their asses until they shut back up?

Protests are useless and masturbatory. Thank God, because if a few whiny douchebags who don't have jobs to be at so they can stand around in masks chanting stupid slogans could actually change anything, we'd be screwed.

Weaver95: The 60's radicals have raised a generation on ritalin and politically correct ..... yada

Mythical, lazy bullshiat. The 60s "radicals" - nice catch basin there ... Oh, wait - weren't they all hippies? Mods? Rockers? It switches every jerk-off, stereotyped thread.

Anyway, those people are now in their 60s; their "kids" are near or at middle age and the Gen "whatever you are imagining" snowflake crop is not linked to the people in that article at all.

Many of the people in that article were of an age close to my parents'. Say, within 2 to 10 years. Most young adults of child-rearing age were, at that time, still locked in the 1950s, and even the 40s, grooving on old Doris Day and Pat Boone and Four Lads records and encouraging their kids to learn a trade, even if it meant missing university. A few became radicalised.

I never heard of Ritalin until long past the age it would be prescribed for someone of my generation, were we young today. Even when I had kids in the early 80s, it could hardly be called common. My kids never took anything of the sort (how did they escape!? everybody took it!).

This sweeping "Boomer" bullshiat is the real "old" thinking. Thank goodness, I will never be as old as some of you already ossified quasi-moderns and your lazy blame culture notions. Wanna know the real difference between a young kid growing up in the 60s and this sage, knowing little thread? This thread is stupid enough to believe it's own bullshiat.

My friends and I didn't believe the hippies, straights, politicians, cops, frats, schools or the even the shiat in our own heads, because people like Leary and Huxley and Hesse and Vonnegut were teaching us that the moment you get comfortable is the moment you surrender - and start getting old, and locked in. We didn't fit in - but we didn't get sucked in to the kind of "thinking" displayed herein, either.

Fact is, some of you farkers are ancient - your notions about "Boomers" (puke) be damned. You are riffing on tens of millions of people, all different.

Question everything - and you had better start with yourself.

Weaver95 ftw

Gregory F. Stuart: farkplug: There does seem to be an inordinate amount of apathy about the war in Iraq, if street protests or, for that matter, the result of the 2004 election, are anything to go by. But I don't see any 60's radicals (who'd now be in their 60s) doing it, either. Internet protest/activism is the zeitgeist.

Although I should point out that, to our credit, the decision to invade Iraq was met with the largest protest ever organized in the entire history of human beings on February 15, 2003.

We see now that such actions don't do any good.

That's because the American government isn't scared of the people anymore. The people are scared of the American government.

farkplug
There does seem to be an inordinate amount of apathy about the war in Iraq, if street protests or, for that matter, the result of the 2004 election, are anything to go by

Here's the history from this radical's perspective: During the 90's, global justice (slandered in the media as "anti-globalization") was starting to pick up steam, until the Battle of Seattle finally made it all seem real. From above, we were mocked and scorned, but those few days were the proof-of-concept.

Then everybody went to work on the campaigns. Then 9/11 happened. The three years after that were an explosion (relatively) of 60's revivalism. We sure threw some big honkin' marches. And the powers that be just completely ignored us, because we missed the point. The point of none of the 60's marches was to just have a parade. They were farking trying to capture government buildings.

But the government today doesn't respect the rights or lives of citizens. If we tried to do anything really revolutionary in huge numbers, there would be tanks on the streets. omg someone might get hurt! And since the majority of the people participating in the mega-marches are ex-60's old farts (and since people get more and more cowardly as they age), everyone just piled into their minivans and went home after a long weekend of walking around and listening to speeches.

Then we put all of our efforts into Kerry, who sucked because he's a douchebag. The killing blow to the anti-Iraq War movement, though, was the 2006 elections. We gave the Democrats Congress specifically to end the war. and... we won! Good, we can go sit at home, job done. Right?

So here we are two years later. All the stuff we thought we knew about Gandhi didn't work (since, again, we were doing it wrong). We managed to get all worked up and without actually ever being confrontational. There are two obvious paths, just like there were at the start of the 70's: Either sit at home and pout, or go underground and start carrying out bank robberies to fund pointless bombings and poorly-planned assassinations, which is obviously stupid.

So, what I'm saying is that it's not apathy, just lack of direction.


But I don't see any 60's radicals (who'd now be in their 60s) doing it, either.

We're working on some pretty sweet stuff for the party conventions. Come for the riots, stay for the seemingly-spontaneous eruption of a new world.

Gregory F. Stuart, yeah, and after that it appears that everyone just gave up (though I know there are still protests here and there). I think protests should be huger and more prolonged and more creative. Edgier. Scarier, somehow, but of course never violent. I'm not suggesting molotov cocktails, but maybe cut out the friendly balloons and stuff. I'd like to see a populace threatening economic sanctions, maybe not driving any oil-guzzling vehicles for a single day, something like that. Hit 'em where it hurts.

RanDomino:
We're working on some pretty sweet stuff for the party conventions. Come for the riots, stay for the seemingly-spontaneous eruption of a new world.

Right the hell on!

best part is, "we" can easily mean us

Weaver95:
Well, hell. I was all ready to come in here and give my opinion on it, but you just said it all in the Boobies.

/*respect knuckles* har har

I don't think you can write off the events of the 1960s - it was indeed a time of immense social change. But the agents of change were not baby boomers. Kennedy was born in 1917, Johnson in 1908. Martin Luther King in 1929. Gloria Steinem in 1934. Even the leading cultural figures of the time couldn't be labeled boomers - all four of the Beatles were born before the end of WW2.

Does that mean I'm writing off the baby boomers? No - they did give us punk, but they also have the taint of disco.

something I can remember
what this world really needs is the youth to organize like they did in the 60's into one movement

Don't take this to mean like I have all the answers, but it already sometimes happens

there's never going to be one giant monolithic mass movement, but we've got some good stuff started.

Not enough causes worthy of protest these days. The Iraq War would have a lot more protests if the body count was a lot higher and people were drafted rather than volunteers in the army. Todays civilized world is an utopia and fast approaching an entirely peaceful world. Sure there are disagreements and issues faced by the world today. But they are very localized to specific parts of the world and have very little global impact. Issues like those in the 60s were a cumulative effect of war, racial, and sexual equality...and such problems in the US have come a long way due to progress achieved by what happened back in those days. What issue in modern America is deserving of mass protest?

something I can remember: At the risk of threadjacking, there is this, that I add to your comment: If your religion promises an afterlife of delights, why would you be afraid to die?

The only Christians I've met that were peaceful about or looking forward to death were those with terminal illnesses. Having a mother in the laity and now moving towards priesthood, herself, had exposed me to a large number of Christians as a child and teenager. The answer, of course, is that most Christians do not believe. They are "Athiests in Church", as you say.
My beloved mother starsrift, included.

euge: Not enough causes worthy of protest these days. The Iraq War would have a lot more protests if the body count was a lot higher and people were drafted rather than volunteers in the army. Todays civilized world is an utopia and fast approaching an entirely peaceful world. Sure there are disagreements and issues faced by the world today. But they are very localized to specific parts of the world and have very little global impact. Issues like those in the 60s were a cumulative effect of war, racial, and sexual equality...and such problems in the US have come a long way due to progress achieved by what happened back in those days. What issue in modern America is deserving of mass protest?

The steady erosion of rights in the United States.

Just barely two notches shy of armed insurrection, so I'd say it's well within the bounds of mass protest-worthy.

RanDomino: best part is, "we" can easily mean us

You're ... like so right on, hipster dude. That cartoon cat..like, man.. totally gets the young crowd into this shiat...and stuff. Wow.

I think this is the result of backwards thinking. The radicals were as much a product of their times as the times were a product of their making. They were riding a wave of the inevitable- the old forms of doing things had become obsolete and society needed a shaking up, a breaking up of institutions and a new flexibility introduced. Technology was changing. Society was moving away from agrarian living. All kinds of things were going on at once that fed into each other.

Since that time, those institutions have adapted too- much like the borg. Gov't and corporation alike have learned how to resist outside influences they don't want. Protesting no longer makes much of a difference to them, and they couldn't give less of a crap if you want to go join a commune. Instead, they've learned how to sell you the granola, the new hybrid car, the organic vegetables and cds that make you think you have it good enough that there isn't really any point in leaving your nice life, and nevermind if a few things here and there were made in sweatshops. They've learned a lot more about what makes people tick- and we're learning more about what makes them tick. If you want to change the world- vote with your dollar.

Things do still change, they just change differently now- with board meetings instead of teargas. The ways in which things change are small, subtle, numerous and decentralized. That's why attempting to replicate the old patterns of social change are useless- the world has already left those templates behind. People who change things now must chose specific, small targets. Changes are being made by small groups of people with specialized areas of knowledge applied to specific targets with certain changes in mind. Of course, that makes it harder for people to connect and feel a part of one big thing. There has to be more of an answer then 'not this'. You have to have a solution to take it's place. That's a lot harder, and a lot less jingoistic.

euge: Not enough causes worthy of protest these days. The Iraq War would have a lot more protests if the body count was a lot higher and people were drafted rather than volunteers in the army. Todays civilized world is an utopia and fast approaching an entirely peaceful world. Sure there are disagreements and issues faced by the world today. But they are very localized to specific parts of the world and have very little global impact. Issues like those in the 60s were a cumulative effect of war, racial, and sexual equality...and such problems in the US have come a long way due to progress achieved by what happened back in those days. What issue in modern America is deserving of mass protest?

The Patriot Act. The actual War in Iraq is farking hopskotch compared to the horrible effect that catastrophe has had on our country, and it's only going to snowball.

The 2000 election. Obviously very shady, and then it comes out that you can tamper with "tamper-proof" automated voting machines, and that if you did nobody would be able to find out.

Just recently when the White House destroyed records REQUESTED BY A farkING COURT and is getting off scot-free on a "oops" excuse.

Gitmo. We're allowing SUSPECTS to be tortured, likely to death on occasion, because we're afraid of what they're suspected of, and more afraid of those torturing them. We're allowing people, PEOPLE, to be tortured because we're afraid.

The War on Drugs. Thousands upon thousands of people being locked up for getting high. We're putting CITIZENS IN JAIL for smoking a farking plant. You take a plant, you put it on a piece of paper, you light it on fire, and you're going to farking jail.

Enough reasons?

you want to see 60's like protests? just start up the draft and try to induct a million or so snowflakes.

the soccer moms will set the world on fire.

I teach '68 my students as the Fourth French Revolution.

/Danny the Red is now Danny the Green.
//We are all German Jews

The day the Roman Empire fell was a quiet, unremarkable day. There were no parades, no marches, & no celebrations in the streets. The barbarians hadn't sacked Rome in quite some time: there was no point & no riches to be had. It was a quiet day when the last Roman Emperor slipped away.

The United States is a criminal organization, and that which is corrupt cannot stand. That's a law of nature, not of man. An inevitable reckoning will come, and your mighty tower of rotted cards will fall, by storm or in sunshine. Your folly, your corruption, your weakness, your greed, your conceits, your superstitions, your ideologies, your ignorance, your fears - your second-hand smoke - all that you hold dear was always best kept to yourself, but it's too late now, isn't it?

Sun Tzu wrote in Art of War: "When the soldiers are strong and the officers are weak there will be insubordination." Your officers are weak. One can choose to be strong.